Albuquerque · west side · Fiesta week
Private hot air balloon flights from Albuquerque's west side during Balloon Fiesta week — no festival admission, no parking lot, no 4 a.m. shuttle line. Just you, the basket, and the valley waking up underneath you.
Independently operated. Not affiliated with the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta®.
Pick a morning below to see what's available and reserve your spot. Every booking is confirmed instantly and your tickets arrive by email.
Albuquerque is one of the best places on earth to fly a balloon, and the valley west of the river is where a lot of that flying actually happens.
The valley's layered winds — south near the ground, north up higher — let a pilot steer a balloon in ways that aren't possible almost anywhere else. It's the reason this city is a ballooning capital, and you get a front-row seat to it.
West-side launches put the river, the bosque, and the west mesa below you, with the Sandias catching first light across the valley. Wide-open terrain also means a pilot has room to pick a comfortable landing.
No Fiesta ticket, no shuttle, no crowd of 100,000 people between you and your car. You meet a small group at a quiet launch site and you're in the air.
The same still October mornings that make the festival famous — flown independently, on our own schedule, away from the event airspace and the traffic that comes with it.
Cold hands, a roaring burner, and an envelope filling up in front of you — then the ground just quietly falls away.
Choose a morning, pay securely, and your tickets land in your inbox right away with a QR code.
We send the exact meeting point and check-in time ahead of your flight, along with what to wear and bring.
You'll watch the crew lay the envelope out and inflate it. Most people say the setup is half the experience.
Up you go for the flight, then the chase crew meets you at the landing site for the traditional post-flight toast.
We're a new operation and we're not going to pretend otherwise with invented reviews. What we can tell you is exactly how your money and your morning are handled.
This site sells privately operated hot air balloon flights on the west side of Albuquerque. We are not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by, or part of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta®, and we do not sell admission to that event. "Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta" is a registered trademark of its respective owner and is used here only to describe when we fly.
There are only so many still, clear mornings in the valley — and only so many baskets. Grab a seat while Sandia Sunrise Balloons still has one.
Operated by Sandia Sunrise Balloons LLC · Albuquerque, New Mexico
Header photograph “Balloons over a neighborhood, Albuquerque NM” by G. Edward Johnson, licensed CC BY 4.0, cropped and colour-adjusted.